Folded paperboard containers and the like are often used in the fast food industry, among other industries. Advantageously, such containers are relatively simple and inexpensive to manufacture, ship, store, assemble, and use, and are typically disposable and environmentally friendly. Often, it is desirable for these containers to enclose multiple food products, such as a primary food product and a secondary food product, sauce/condiment container, or the like, separating the food products until the sauce/condiment or the like is added to the primary food product and the food products are consumed, for example. Typical examples of primary food products include chicken nuggets, hamburgers, french fries, etc. Typical examples of sauces/condiments include barbeque sauce, honey mustard, ketchup, etc. The sauce/condiment container may be substantially separable from the folded paperboard container or the like and made of a covered or uncovered plastic material, for example. Alternatively, the sauce/condiment container may be substantially inseparable from or integrally formed with the folded paperboard container or the like.
One such container is provided in U.S. Pat. No. 4,694,987, issued to Forbes, Jr., on Sep. 22, 1987. In general, Forbes, Jr., discloses a carryout carton for food products that includes a single tray element with a pair of integral lid members. A first locking means is provided for securing one lid member to the bottom wall of the tray and a second locking means is provided for securing the second lid to the first lid. The first locking means includes a first locking tab formed by a flap element attached to an extension of the front wall of the first lid and a first locking slot formed in the bottom wall of the tray. The second locking means includes a second locking tab formed by an extension of the front wall of the second lid and a second locking slot formed in the front wall of the first lid member.
Another such container is provided in U.S. Pat. No. 4,895,259, issued to Paley on Jan. 23, 1990. In general, Paley discloses a collapsible, self-locking carton, formed from a unitary blank of foldable paperboard, that is divided into two separate types of compartments for holding two different types of food items, one compartment having a horizontal wall with a central opening for holding a cylindrical item such as sauce cup, and the other component being a well with higher walls for holding taller elongated objects such as pretzels.
A further such container is provided in U.S. Pat. No. 5,890,648, issued to Cai on Apr. 6, 1999. In general, Cai discloses that the tray of a carton is divided into larger and smaller compartments by a transverse intermediate wall. The tray outer end wall at the smaller compartment is integrally formed with a lid panel folded to overlie the smaller compartment and extend laterally outward of opposed side walls of the tray. The intermediate wall is integral with and depends from the lid panel. A cover, with depending side walls, is integrally hinged to the second end wall of the tray with the cover side walls including forwardly extending lugs engagable with and beneath the transversely extending portions of the lid panel to releasably lock the cover in a closed position.
Each of these containers, however, and others in the art suffer from significant shortcomings. Some do not incorporate a cover, some incorporate a cover that encloses only one food product, and most are overly complex and expensive. This is problematic, as folded paperboard containers and the like are single-use items that are typically used by the thousands. Thus, incremental increases in material, handling, and use efficiency may lead to significant savings and/or market penetration.